Sunday, February 03, 2013

The Republican civil war ramps up

The New York Times is reporting today that a group of deep-pocketed Republican donors is financing a new effort to, as the article indicates, "recruit seasoned candidates and protect Senate incumbents from challenges by far-right conservatives and Tea Party enthusiasts who Republican leaders worry could complicate the party’s efforts to win control of the Senate."

The Conservative Victory Project is backed by Karl Rove and others involved with American Crossroads. The group's first project will be to vet prospective candidates for Congressional races in order to basically "weed out" those deemed too stupid or crazy to win in a general election.

Obviously the project is intended to make sure disasters like Todd Akin in Missouri and Richard Mourdock in Indiana don't happen again. There is even a suggestion that Rep. Steve King, notorious batshit crazy Iowa Republican, who has said he may run for the Senate, could be a target.

The group’s plans, which were outlined for the first time last week in an interview, call for hard-edge campaign tactics, including television advertising, against candidates whom party leaders see as unelectable and a drag on the efforts to win the Senate.

This is all truly fascinating. The GOP establishment is finally realizing that the Tea Party monster they helped create must be put down. We'll just have to wait and see what this means for the presidential nomination battle.